Archive for the 'Valentine's day' Category

It’s hard to get in the mood for Valentine’s day when the day before it’s rainy cats and dogs outside, your running late for work despite the alarm going off at 4:45 am and the elevator in your apartment building is out of order, oh and when you finally do make it out of the door after a trip back up the seven flights of stairs to get your rain coat,your umbrella does an impressive back flip and jars an elderly lady walking past (which I now know is only funny in films). Frankly, by this point in my day (and it was only 5:43 am) I felt like my guts-on-the-outside-umbrella, only minus the gold medal gymnastics. There was no love in the air. nada, zilch, niente- well you get the idea.

They say things can only get better-but I can categorically say when you start the day like you’ve been thrown in the pool with your clothes on (on a winters day) and there’s no more PG-tips left, there’s very little to feel bright about. So, I did what any right-minded girl in a grump and a sodden jumper would do- I got out a set of scales. If you’re the kind of person who hasn’t yet come across an activity or the person in your life to bring you up when you’re down, then let me suggest you drag your sad little feet into the kitchen. Sweet smells from the oven warm the heart, enliven the senses and really, who hasn’t ever thought to themselves…one more biscuit will make everything better? This isn’t to say that Don, doesn’t live up to his relationship-bound duties but I didn’t want to bring him down the day before Valentine’s Day and make him forget my flowers (Don, you did buy me flowers, right?).

Walking to the subway after work I chucked my useless brolly on a pile of other discarded ones’ by the curb- seems like no matter how much you shell out there is no such thing as a good umbrella. There are however good biscuits. Happy Valentine’s Day.

When I attended school in Philadelphia, Valentine’s Day was a big deal. Everyone bought in candy and cookies and everyone received a card. This of course was because the school didn’t want a single child to feel left out- so if you had one secret admirer in the class then you’d never know as they had to give a card to everybody else too. I don’t rate Valentine’s Day as an important holiday and yet I do remember every almost every one better than I remember most Christmases and birthdays. That said, these memories are mostly not happy ones’ (it is after all a holiday which simply reminds us of how thoughtful or useless our other halves are or how desperately single/unloved we are).

I blame the reason for my undiagnosed secret obsession with Valentines Day on growing up in the States. The day is treated like a holiday over here- candy and cupcakes are sold by the tons; (cut into heart shapes and decorated in pink and red) and advertisers leap at the opportunity to make us feel bad about being alone or worse still being with someone uncaring, who doesn’t think to buy you an impressive diamond rock on this oh so special day. It angers me because I’m sucked in and I too want to make heart shaped cookies and have flowers sent to me by a secret or not-so-secret admirer.

When I went to boarding school in England it was hard to overlook the fact that their approach to Valentine’s Day was somewhat different. At school they actually allowed students to anonymously send turnips to people who they didn’t like! Turnips aside, in England the fun and secrecy of Valentine’s Day still exists where it has commercialised here. Thoughtful as it is to acknowledge everybody, I think I prefer the secrecy (so long as I’m not the one receiving turnips).

I’ve only ever indulged one secret admiree and because it was sealed with a giant heart-shaped cookie it was sort of a give-away that it was from me. I can’t guarantee that this cookie will bring you success (it definitely didn’t in my case) but it won’t be ignored. It’s delightfully chewy and awesomely chocolaty so make sure you REALLY like this person before you consider letting it out of your sight.